In a franchise with as many moving pieces as Star Wars, it’s perhaps not a huge surprise that many of the projects set in this universe churn through quite a few writers. When a spin-off movie focused on Daisy Ridley’s Rey was first announced, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson were brought in as the film’s writers. They left the project in March of 2023, and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight was brought in after them.
Knight left the project in October of 2024, but before that, he spoke with The Telegraph about the film, and what it’s like to be part of the massive machine surrounding Star Wars.
“There’s a system, and when you engage with it, you know what it is. You do your bit, you turn in your draft or drafts, as I did, and then the system moves on. I fully expect that substantial amounts of what I did will be in the movie – who knows? But that’s the expectation,” he explained.
Please enable Javascript to view this content
George Nolfi was brought in as the next writer after Knight left the project, and we don’t know much about what each writer has brought to the film, or how it’s evolved as different writers have taken passes at it.
It’s not uncommon for movies of this size to bring in a number of writers, but there’s a certain point on the merry-go-round when the rotating cast of writers suggests the movie isn’t totally working. Star Wars has announced and then canceled quite a few potential film projects in recent years. Here’s hoping that this Rey project doesn’t become another title in that pile.